A's can't cash in on scoring opportunities in series finale with Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The A's could have left Rangers Ballpark giddy and gung-ho for the second half of their Texas road trip Wednesday, but instead departed town wearing a lot of clenched-teeth smiles.

Oakland took two out of three here to win the series -- always a nice achievement against Ron Washington's Texas Rangers -- but the table was set to run the table, and the A's dropped their collective fork on the floor in the finale.

The A's saw their five-game win streak end with a 3-1 loss in which they went 0-for-10 with men in scoring position, struck out nine times and wasted a very nice recovery by starter Jarrod Parker after a rocky three-run first inning in which he surrendered a pair of home runs.

Adding insult to the defeat, the A's essentially handed 30-year-old journeyman Ross Wolf, who hadn't pitched in the majors since a brief seven-game stint with Oakland in 2010, his first major-league victory.

"I think today, more than any, we kind of did it to ourselves," said outfielder Seth Smith. "It was kind of a frustratingly uninspiringeffort, I guess."

But winning two of three wasn't a sufficient parting gift?

"I don't look at it that way," Smith said. "It's about today's game. The two games we won were great, but we wanted to win this game, too."

That kind of thinking is certainly in line with manager Bob Melvin's.

"Once you win two, you want to win the third," Melvin said. "There's no sense in saying, `All right, we won the series,' and just pack it in. When you have the opportunity to sweep, that's what you want to do."

It looked like it would be one of those long days early on when Parker walked the first batter in the bottom of the first, surrendered a two-run homer to David Murphy, and then after getting an out, surrendered another long home run to Adrian Beltre to straightaway center.

But Parker pulled it together and proceeded to pitch 6 2/3 innings of scoreless three-hit ball, and over four consecutive innings, it appears his teammates would reward him for his recovery.

In the fourth inning, Brandon Moss' one-out sacrifice fly scored Coco Crisp with Oakland's first run. That's all they got, but more seemed imminent in the fifth when Smith walked and Derek Norris doubled, giving the A's and second-and-third, nobody-out situation. Alas, Eric Sogard and Adam Rosales hit back-to-back popups and Crisp grounded out to squelch the threat.

Oakland opened the sixth with John Jaso drawing a walk and Yoenis Cespedes reaching on an error, but Rangers lefty reliever Neal Cotts came on and struck out Moss, Josh Donaldson and Smith in succcession. Then in the seventh, Norris doubled again and advanced to third on a Sogard groundout. But Rosales popped out again and Crisp fouled out.

The first Sogard at-bat and the two Rosales misfires definitely irked the manager the most.

"The most frustrating thing is we didn't handle the situational at-bats," he said. "We could have wound up scoring two, maybe three runs without a hit. If we handle those, we at least tie the game."

"I was just trying to get a fastball up in the zone, something I could drive the outfield," said Rosales. "I got the high fastball, but I think I'm maybe a little too aggressive right now just wanting to get the job done."

On the bright side, there was Parker, who despite falling to 2-6 and giving up his 10th and 11th homers of the year (he only gave up 11 all of last year), he put together his second strong outing in a row after the early hiccup.

"Those were two out of maybe five or six four-seamers I threw today, and they missed probably a little bit too much," he said. "But I did some things where I felt like I was getting back to where they were."

Parker said he's finally feeling healthy after battling a neck stiffness issue his first handful of starts and can focus better on executing his pitches.

"Parker pitched great after the first inning," Melvin said. "He threw a couple of early-count heaters they squared up, but then he really settled down nicely. That was good to see. We just didn't give him the support."

* Jed Lowrie still couldn't put a shoe on after being hit on the base of his right foot by Texas' Yu Darvish Tuesday night. He said the foot was very swollen, but hopes to be ready to play by Friday night when the A's open a three-game series in Houston.

*Josh Reddick will join the A's in Houston Friday and be evaluated for three days taking batting practice. If all goes well, he'll go on a rehab assignment.